Theatrical traditions: stage and screen in Bendigo

Speaker box from
the Golden Drive-In
Theatre
1950s
aluminium, paint,
electrical wire
Collection Leighton
and Sue Rawlings
Miller
Melbourne 20th
century
Golden Drive-In
Theatre tickets
1959 – 60
paper, ink
Collection Eaglehawk
Heritage Society
late and the interval seemed to go on
forever. During intervals, he and his
friends often descended upon local
businesses like Miss Varcoe’s Milk Bar
across the road from the Town Hall
where they would buy Fantales, a Dixie
cup or a box of scorched almonds,
which were a real treat! 39
THE GOLDEN DRIVE-IN
Another popular destination was
the Golden Drive-In. Following the
opening of the Skyline Drive-In in
Burwood, Melbourne in 1954, driveins
popped up all over the country.
The first and only one of its kind in
the Bendigo area, the Golden Drive-In
located at the corner of Crook Street
and St Aiden’s Rd, opened to the
public on 8 December 1955.
Proprietor of the Golden Drive-
In, Kevin Houlahan, knew that in a
city like Bendigo, such an enterprise
would take off. The genius of the
Drive-In was in giving the car-loving
public another activity to do in their
vehicles. Admittance in those days was
4/- (four shillings) for an adult and 1/-
(one shilling) for a child. 40 Despite its
affordability, there are many stories of
people hiding in the boot of a car to
catch a free film; others jumped the
fence or parked in a particular spot
just outside the complex and although
saving on the ticket price, watched the
movie in silence. 41
The audio for the film played
through a speaker hooked onto the
car window. When the Drive-In first
opened in addition to the volume
knob, these speakers had a small switch
used to summon a ‘tray boy’ to take
refreshment orders. This service was
particularly inefficient and was short
lived. The design of the speakers
continued to change until audiences
could eventually tune in to a particular
frequency on their car radio to listen to
the film’s audio.
In comparison to the amount of films
able to be shown at the indoor theatres
in town, the Golden Drive-In could
only show one film a night. This meant
fewer ticket sales and therefore last pick
of current films on the market. As a
rule, in order to sell as many tickets as
possible, movie studios sent their ‘firstruns’
to indoor theaters and Drive-ins
were often left with ‘second-runs’ as
well as ‘B-grade’ or R-rated films. This
in addition to technological and social
changes eventually led to the demise
and closure of the Golden Drive-In
on 3 February 1985. By this stage,
the land was prime real estate and was
subsequently subdivided and sold off as
housing lots.
19